


Many a New Day

by flowerfan



Series: Klainebingo [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, klainebingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 17:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1865910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to <i>People Will Say We're In Love (second story in the Klainebingo series; part 1 of the Oklahoma stories).</i>  Klainebingo prompt fill (prompt: back rubs).  Kurt and Blaine need to confront Tim, and what they find out surprises them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Many a New Day

Sunday went pretty much according to plan, although Kurt and Blaine both slept in longer than they usually did, having stayed up into the wee hours entertaining themselves with Kurt's new found bad boy kink. But Blaine still made Kurt an indulgent breakfast, even if it was practically lunchtime by the time they got around to eating it, and they still had an uninterrupted afternoon of couch time while Santana was at work.

By evening, however, reality was pressing back down on them. Blaine spent some time in the bedroom at the keyboard, working on a piece for his composition class. He had promised himself a break after an hour - if he didn't take the headphones off after that long, he'd get a headache - and so when the timer on his phone went off, he unwound himself from his position on the floor, made a few quick notes so he could jump back in later, and wandered out to find Kurt, hoping he was ready for a break too.

"How's Sam Shepard? Looks like you haven't made much progress."

Kurt was at the kitchen table, highlighter in hand, trying to get through another chapter of the play his modern theater class was currently reading. "It's not the worst." 

"But?" Blaine sat down at the table, gently bumping his shoulder against Kurt's.

"But I'm kind of distracted."

Blaine grinned and struck a pose, pointing at himself. "By me?"

Kurt laughed. "Yes, you goof. But not in a sexy way."

"I'm not sure whether to be insulted or intrigued," Blaine wondered, giving Kurt a small smile. "What's up?"

Kurt sighed, hunching forward over the table. "I'm worried about Jud - I mean, Tim. About you confronting him tomorrow."

Blaine stood up and moved behind Kurt, giving his shoulders a firm squeeze. His muscles felt like rocks. A tense Kurt was an unhappy Kurt, but Blaine could fix that. "It's not going to be a confrontation, just a talk. You don't have to worry." 

Kurt let out a moan as Blaine started to massage his shoulders in earnest. "Oh, wow."

"Good?" Blaine asked.

"Ah, yes, definitely good." Kurt let his head hang forward so Blaine could rub his neck. "You know, telling me I don't have to worry doesn't actually have any effect."

Blaine laughed. "I get what you mean, but the fact that I'm not that worried should matter a little, right? I really don't think the guy is a psychopath or anything. I just caught him at a bad time, and he's obviously got some resentment built up against me. I was surprised that they gave the lead to a freshman, too, I get why he's mad."

"He knows as well as you do that NYADA doesn't give out parts based on seniority. It's just about merit. You were the best fit for Curly, and so the part went to you. If he can't handle that, he shouldn't be in the show at all," Kurt said, his attempt at taking a firm tone somewhat muted by his enjoyment of Blaine's hands as they worked out the knots in his back.

"Take it in the bedroom, gaybies, or do me next. Either works for me." Santana announced as she breezed into the loft and joined Kurt at the table. 

"Mmm," Kurt moaned. "I don't know, Santana, you have to earn a back rub like this. What have you done for Blaine lately?"

"I'll have you know, smarty-tight-pants, I learned some very interesting information about our friend Tim today." Santana leaned back and propped her high-heel clad feet up on the neighboring chair, ignoring Kurt's "no shoes on the furniture" glare.

"You don't even go to NYADA, how can you have more gossip than we do?" Kurt asked, his voice muffled by the fact that he was now resting his face on his arms, which were stretched out on the table in an effort to give Blaine the best possible access to his sore muscles.

"Told you, she's got a thing for the stage manager," Blaine explained. Sometimes he thought Kurt didn't always listen when he talked. He pushed the thought away, and continued working the muscles in Kurt's lower back, drawing another delicious moan from his fiancé. 

"And she's got a thing for me too, thank you very much," Santana confirmed. "Tara came into the diner today and gave some dirt on our pal Tim. Apparently he was all hot shit his first two years at school - kind of like you two sickening creatures - but then things started to go downhill. He started missing classes, skipping rehearsals, letting his grades slip. But after this summer he seemed to have pulled himself together, so they let him audition for the show."

"I wonder what happened," Blaine mused, running his hands up and down Kurt's outstretched arms.

"Finding it hard to care right now," Kurt mumbled.

"Well, now that you've turned Kurt into jelly, come do me, Curly." 

Blaine opened his mouth to reply when his phone beeped. "Oh, sorry, Santana, my study break's over. Maybe in another hour?" Blaine smiled apologetically at Santana, then stretched himself out over Kurt's back, his lips almost touching Kurt's ear. "Want to move your reading to the bedroom?" he whispered.

"Mmm," Kurt responded, letting Blaine pull him up and lead him away.

Santana huffed. "Blaine Anderson, you are the worst liar in the entire world," she called after them as they disappeared behind the privacy curtain. "Don't think I won't be in there in fifty-nine minutes for my back rub!"

\----------

Monday morning Kurt dressed carefully, wearing one of his favorite sweaters and a pair of tight paisley pants. He noticed Blaine had done the same - he always wore his gold jeans when he wanted that extra boost of confidence. Kurt gave Blaine a quick kiss and a meaningful look when they parted ways before Blaine's first class. "It's going to be okay, Kurt, don't worry," Blaine said calmly. "He's not going to throw me into the lockers or anything. This isn't McKinley."

Kurt didn't know why that made any difference. Bullies were bullies, and the fact that they were in New York and not Lima wasn't going to change that. "Just be careful, Blaine." Don't let him get you alone. Watch out for football players, and dumpsters.... He took a deep breath and stepped back, glancing over his shoulder and then back at Blaine, who seemed to be more worried about Kurt than his feud with a six foot two homophobe. "See you at lunch?"

At noon Kurt got to the cafeteria before Blaine, and claimed a table at the far side of the room. He felt a little silly, like he was in a mafia movie or something, but he wasn't going to turn his back to the crowd. He propped a book up in front of him, but hadn't turned a single page when he finally saw Blaine walk in. Relieved, he waved him over.

"Did you talk to him?" Kurt asked, searching Blaine's face as Blaine set his book bag on the floor and sat down stiffly in the chair next to Kurt's. 

"No. I couldn't find him anywhere." Blaine rubbed his hands on his thighs, clearly unsettled. "Usually I feel like I see him in the halls all day long, but not today. I even loitered outside Ms. July's senior dance workshop at the end of the period, but I didn't see him come out. I don't get it."

Kurt thought Blaine looked considerably more stressed than he had this morning, his shoulders tight and his eyes nervously flickering around the room. The situation was obviously getting to him. Kurt put a hand on Blaine's arm and shuffled his chair a little closer. "Would it be okay with you if I helped with the costumes for _Oklahoma_? I ran into Julie, and she said they could use someone who actually knew the difference between tulle and muslin."

Blaine looked up, his eyes wide. "You don't have to do that, Kurt. You decided not to do this show so you'd have more time for your band."

"Costumes won't take nearly as much time as being in the cast. Besides, Julie said I could design the outfits for the ballet sequence, and the box social. It'll be great for my résumé." Kurt watched Blaine carefully as he spoke. He felt like the two of them sometimes danced a fine line between supporting the other and acting inappropriately overprotective, and he knew his overprotective urge was out in full force right now.

Blaine's tense gaze morphed into a shaky grin, and he pulled Kurt into a tight hug. "I'd love it if you worked on the show. I'd love it even if this thing with Tim wasn't going on, but... Thank you, Kurt."

Kurt held Blaine for a minute, rubbing his back. Blaine relaxed into him, but Kurt kept his eyes focused on the door, just in case Tim decided to grace them with his presence. Finally Kurt stood up and rolled his shoulders, taking Blaine's hand and pulling him up too. "Well, shall we see what culinary delights we have to choose from today?"

At rehearsal that afternoon, the director announced that they were going to do small group work, and let most of the cast go. It hadn't escaped Kurt's notice that Tim wasn't there at all. While Blaine rehearsed "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" (and Kurt couldn't help it if his heart swelled with pride hearing Blaine sing, he was simply dreamy as Curly) and then "Surrey With A Fringe On Top" with Ingrid, who was a rather feisty Laurey, Kurt entertained himself in the costume room. NYADA had no shortage of funds when it came to its costume budget, and after a lengthy meeting with Julie, Kurt was full of ideas for how to make the production come alive visually as well as musically. He got so excited he forgot all about the Tim problem until a tired but bubbly Blaine snuck up behind him and grabbed him around the waist.

"Care to walk me home, kind sir?" Blaine asked, nuzzling his slightly sweaty face against Kurt's neck. 

Julie giggled, but Kurt was getting used to this reaction from his classmates. Apparently the idea of Kurt Hummel in love was just too adorable for words. While Kurt normally just rolled his eyes and tried to tamp down Blaine's more effusive displays of PDA, today he didn't have the heart for it. "It would be my pleasure," he replied, turning and giving Blaine a smooch.

Kurt kept up his guard all the way home, and sighed with relief when he finally closed the loft door behind them. It was his turn to make dinner so he threw together some leftovers and a salad while Blaine took a quick shower. After they ate they settled down at either end of the couch, their legs overlapping in the middle, and got started on their assignments for the night. Kurt was just thinking it might be time for some ice cream when a loud knock made them both jump.

"Expecting anyone?" Blaine asked as he got up. Kurt shook his head as he trailed closely behind Blaine, annoyed that their quiet evening had been disturbed. Blaine pulled the heavy loft door open and stepped back, practically bumping into Kurt, when he saw who it was. 

Kurt resisted the urge to push Blaine behind him and instead just placed a steadying hand on his back. "Mr. Martin. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Somewhat surprisingly, Tim looked nervous, his hands clasped together in front of him like he didn't know where to put them. He had a black eye of his own, Kurt noted. "I'm sorry to bother you. But I was hoping we could talk for a few minutes." His eyes shifted from Blaine to Kurt and back to Blaine again. "I'm really sorry, and I'd like a chance to explain."

Kurt held his tongue, and waited for Blaine to find his. It didn't take long.

"Of course, Tim. Come in." Blaine stepped back to let Tim come inside, and nodded towards the kitchen table. "Can I get you something to drink? We've got juice, seltzer, diet soda..."

Quashing his urge to giggle at Blaine's unrelenting good manners, Kurt followed them both to the table and sat down next to Blaine. Tim perched on the edge of a chair across from them, and wrung his hands together again. This man should not play poker, Kurt thought.

"No, I'm not thirsty, thanks." Tim took a breath and seemed to notice what he was doing with his hands, placing them palms down on his legs in an attempt to still them. He looked around the loft appraisingly. "You guys both live here?"

"We do. We have a few other roommates that come and go, as well," Blaine explained. Kurt wondered if Blaine was wishing that Sam hadn't chosen this week to go home to visit his family. Personally he was kind of hoping Santana would show up soon. Not that the two of them couldn't handle this, but Santana was awfully good to have around in difficult moments. Nerves of titanium, that girl had.

Enough with the small talk, Kurt thought. "Tim, Blaine's too polite to say it, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd get to the point. And I'd choose your words carefully, if I were you."

Tim's eyes locked on Kurt's, and he felt a sick spike of adrenaline as it looked like Tim was about to escalate matters. But then the man visibly deflated. He took a slow breath in, let it out, and nodded. "You're right. I don't want to take up too much of your time. I do want to apologize, to both of you." He looked at Blaine. "The things I said to you were really uncool. I was jealous, and I acted like an ass. I'm really sorry." He looked at Kurt, including him in the apology as well.

"I'm sorry too, Tim," Blaine began, but was interrupted before he could go on.

"No, I totally deserved it. I should never have hit you back." Tim gave a weak chuckle. "Honestly, the fact that you hit me so hard kind of knocked any sense I had left right out of me." 

Kurt smirked a little at this, unable to help taking pleasure in the fact that his fiancé apparently really knew how to throw a punch. He started to stand up, ready to bring this lovely interchange to a close, when Tim spoke up.

"Wait, there's something else I think you deserve to know." 

Kurt settled himself back down, glancing quickly at Blaine, who reached over and took his hand. "Go on," he said dryly.

"I'm taking steps to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Not just the anger, but screwing up in school, and at rehearsal. I went straight to a meeting after you punched me on Saturday, and I got back in touch with my sponsor. I really want to stay in school, and not go back to rehab. If I can't make it work or if I start drinking again, I'll leave and get out of your hair. But for now I'm going to go to a meeting every day, get back into counseling, and try to get through my senior year without fucking up again."

Kurt was pretty sure he could hear Blaine's heart beating in the silence that followed Tim's speech.

"I'm guessing you guys haven't had much exposure to addiction. That's good, I mean, you're lucky. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask."

Blaine cleared his throat. "Were you drinking at rehearsal on Saturday?"

Tim nodded. "Yes. Most days, when I’m drinking, I'd have a few drinks before school, and some more throughout the day. I was in rehab over the summer, but I started drinking again a few weeks ago."

"When I got Curly?" Blaine asked quietly.

"Yeah. Pathetic, right? I was lucky the director even let me audition after the shit I pulled last year. And you totally deserve the part, Blaine. I couldn't imagine a better Curly. Certainly not me."

Out of the corner of his eye Kurt could see Blaine blush.

"Both of you guys are so talented," Tim continued. "I know you must hear that all the time, but it's really true."

"We hear you were quite the star yourself," Kurt responded, not yet willing to praise Tim for his current abilities, which as far as Kurt could tell were rather lacking.

"Yeah, well, I fucked that up. But I'm going to try to straighten myself out. And, I, um," he took a breath, and looked from Blaine to Kurt, "I'd really appreciate your support."

Kurt turned to Blaine. He was the one that had to work with him, after all.

"Does that mean you want to run lines with me?"

Tim laughed, and threw his head back. "Man, I would be psyched if you would run lines with me, after all this. Really."

"Even though I'm just a freshman?" Blaine asked, his tone lightly teasing.

"Are you kidding? I played Sweeney Todd my freshman year."

"I begin to see the irony here," Kurt murmured. "Okay, I think we're ready to kiss and make up. It's been a long night for everyone, and we all have rehearsal tomorrow." Kurt hoped Tim noticed that he included himself in that statement.

They all stood up and shook hands, Blaine giving Tim a quick hug as well, which Kurt was surprised to see him accept gratefully. "Wait, one more thing," Kurt added as Tim stood in the doorway. "Every prop you use will be personally checked by me - the gun, the knife, everything."

Tim gave Kurt a puzzled look, and then his eyes went wide. He looked almost panicked, perhaps realizing for the first time how frightened he had made them. "Shit, no, of course, I would never..." Tim came back into the room and looked back and forth between them, finally settling on Blaine. "I swear to you, I would never do anything like that. But I understand if you can't trust me. You shouldn't have to be afraid like that. That's, that's completely unfair. I'll drop out of the show." The look on his face made Kurt feel just a little guilty, like maybe he had gone a step too far. But he didn't think his request was out of line, and if it made this guy feel bad, well, that wasn't his first priority. 

Of course, his first priority was far more susceptible to the sad face Tim was pulling. "No, Tim, you don't need to drop out. I don't want you to," Blaine said earnestly. "Although I do think we need to rethink the fight scenes, maybe get the choreographer to stage them for us, so we both know what to expect?"

"They weren't choreographed?" Kurt said, momentarily distracted from Tim.

"No, the director wanted them to seem 'organic' or something," Blaine explained. "Anyway," he turned back to Tim, "what do you say? Still in?"

"Yes," Tim nodded, obviously relieved. "Definitely." He headed out the door again, and then turned back. "Thank you, guys. You're really both pretty amazing." 

When the loft door had finally been closed behind Tim, Blaine launched himself into Kurt's arms, nearly knocking him to the floor. "Oh my god, Kurt, I think that topped even New Directions levels of drama. Poor guy. I don't even know what to say."

Kurt nodded, his nose buried in Blaine's curls. "I know. It's kind of overwhelming. I think we did pretty well, though, right?"

"I hope so." Blaine tugged Kurt over to the couch, sat down and pulled until Kurt was nestled up closely next to him. "I hope he'll be okay."

"Me too."

"I'm really not scared of him, you know," Blaine said, sliding his hand along the back of Kurt's neck and digging his fingers into his hair.

"I know." But I'm still checking the props, Kurt thought stubbornly. 

"And he was definitely right about one thing," Blaine said, as he started to plant kisses along Kurt's jaw, making Kurt tingle in an altogether wonderful way, "we are both pretty amazing." And with that, Kurt thought, he could agree wholeheartedly.

**Author's Note:**

> "Many A New Day" is from Oklahoma!, as are the other songs mentioned in the fic. Please comment and let me know what you think - there may be one more coming in this series. (Note this is the sequel to part 2 of the Klainebingo series).


End file.
